HANOVER, N.H. – Led by freshmen Kaitlyn Lewis and Cecily Carl, the American University women's basketball team picked up its first win of the season on Thursday evening, defeating Dartmouth, 45-41, at Leede Arena.

"I think our team needed to get that monkey off their back, knowing that we've played some close games against opponents that we could compete with," said American head coach Megan Gebbia. "We're just feeling good about the win. It's terrific."

Lewis and Carl each posted career-high scoring marks for the Eagles, finishing with 14 and 12 points, respectively, while senior Michelle Holmes added eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds and four assists.

Meanwhile, Lakin Roland scored 17 of her game-high 21 points in the first half to lead the Big Green.

The Eagles (1-8), who had not played since Dec. 5, trailed by as many as 12 points in the first period after going scoreless for five minutes. Although a drive by senior Ari Booth with 1:22 on the clock ended AU's drought, American headed into the second period with an 18-8 deficit.

Stepping up its defense in the second quarter, American went on a 14-3 run of its own, boosted by Carl, who scored seven straight points for the Eagles. AU eventually tied the score at 24-24 with a layup by Holmes with 3:33 on the clock, but was unable to pull ahead. Meanwhile, Roland scored a basket with four seconds remaining to give Dartmouth a 26-24 advantage heading into the intermission.

The Eagles scored six straight points to open the third period and held on to its advantage for the remainder of the quarter, taking a 33-32 lead into the final stanza.

Dartmouth (2-10) came back to tie the game at 38-38 with 4:38 remaining in the fourth quarter, but a 5-0 AU run put the Eagles ahead to stay.

The Big Green shot over 53 percent in the opening period, but were just 7-of-31 (.226) over the remainder of the game.

"I think having the layoff hurt us," said Gebbia. "Not playing in a game for that long and having to get back up to speed, I felt like we were a step slow in the first quarter.

"I knew the momentum would shift once we got our feet under us. Once halftime came and we talked about little changes that we wanted to make defensively, we were outstanding on that end in the second half."

The Eagles return home for their next contest, hosting Manhattan on Sunday, Dec. 20, at 5:30 p.m.